


Mater

by Obvious Reactionary (Mysterious_Prophetess)



Series: Lab Rat [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Galra Keith, Gen, alien keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 19:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7858372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mysterious_Prophetess/pseuds/Obvious%20Reactionary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Whenever you're in deep space with just the clothes on your back and some food, landing on planets on a semi-regular basis is needed. Avoiding the Galra is the trick. A trick that Keith hasn't quite mastered.</p><p>Fortunately for Keith, he also has a knack for finding those Galra who have just as big a problem with authority as he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mater

It had been hard keeping ahead of the Galra. Keith was having to hide more and more by the day. It was also starting to get very, _very_ stinky inside the Red Lion’s cockpit, but he could barely land on planets long enough to get food or water. Bathing was next to impossible. Especially with the added factor of being covered in fur. He was hunkered down in Red on the underside of an asteroid as a whole Galra convoy flew past, and the smell of himself was overwhelming his heightened senses and making his own eyes water. Next planet he found, he needed to bathe and get some new clothing so he could burn his prisoner jumpsuit. The convoy finally ended and Keith let out a sigh of relief. Most of the data coming from any of the near by planets was in Galran, which Red helpfully translated. There was a mostly uninhabited planet within a nearby star’s habitable zone, which was odd, but with what the Galra did to planets, it wasn’t entirely unheard of, Keith supposed. He piloted Red cautiously through space keeping a way eye out for any other Galra convoys.

————————————————— ————————————————

The planet was indeed mostly deserted and Keith could see why. It was a dust ball. He had Red scan for water and the results came up with subterranean pockets of liquid water. He landed the lion near a cave that, if the readings were correct, would take him to an underground spring. The opening was too small for Red to fit into, so as soon as he left the Red Lion, the particle barrier went up. Keith walked in the dim light, even for a G-even for _Him_ until he found a pool illuminated by glowing rocks. With a sweep of the room with all his senses, the Red Paladin stripped and dove into the water. It felt nice. He shook water out of his ears as he stood in the waist deep water and scrubbed at his fur the best he could.

“If you didn’t smell so bad, I’d lecture you for potentially contaminating a water source. But seeing as this water is not exactly fit to drink but good enough for washing, I’ll let you slide.” Keith ducked into the water embarrassed. That was a woman’s voice. Striding into view was a Female Galra. She was not too different than her male counterparts Keith had seen before or too different from that Druid. In fact she was somewhere in the middle of the two. A dark purple, furry, strongly built alien woman with cat ears, but with a flowing white mane, walked into view. Her yellow eyes glowing with mirth. She tossed him something and he caught it on instinct. It was a bottle of some sort of soap.

“Use that or your fur will smell terrible even after you dry, Paladin.” Keith was on guard but remembered his weapons were on the shore.

“Why are you helping me?” Keith asked.

“While the Resistance isn’t well organized, since it’s hard to have one at all with those blasted Druids around because some of those bitches can read minds, there are more of us than just Jiore. He sent me a message to let me know _all_ about you. I’m Captain Twyla,” she said before she picked up his prisoner jumpsuit between her fingers and covered her nose.

“I’ll burn this thing while you’re washing and scrounge up some clothing for you. The Empire mostly uses this planet as a massive storage depot. Though, when you’re trying to conquer the known universe, you need planet sized depots. And don’t worry about anyone _else_ finding the Red Lion. I’ve used my ship to block it from view. Oh, and since you seem new to being fur covered, you need to use that beyond just your mane. Rub that in _everywhere_. It’s why it takes forever for we furred Galra to ever get cleaned.” Keith blushed before the female walked out. The fur was good at covering _that_.

—————————————————— ————

Keith had just about finished rinsing the soap out of the last of his fur, whenever Twyla returned and he ducked into the water.

“Calm yourself, cub. I’ve seen it all before!” Twyla said as she reached the edge of the pool and held out a huge towel. “I’ll humor you.” she looked away as Keith stepped out of the water, snatched the towel, and began to rub it all over himself vigorously.

“I’ve left you some clothing by your dagger and bayard. When you’re dressed, come and join me outside. Just leave the towel here: I’ll collect it later.” she said before she turned the rest of her body away and left.

 

Keith finished drying himself off and saw the pile of clothing was simple but not too different from Earthling clothes, and all in shades of black. There were even clean socks next to his boots.

———————— ———— ——————————————

Feeling much better, Keith walked outside to see the remains of one fire while another one roared with some sort of lizard roasting over it. Keith sat down across from the Galran woman and stared into the flames. Twyla kept stealing glances at him. It was getting old, fast.

“What!” he said. Twyla shrugged.

“You remind me of someone I met a long time ago. Probably just before you were born,” Twyla said.

“A Galra?”

“No, an alien. I don’t know what species you were _before_ , you didn’t tell Jiore so he couldn’t tell me, but this man was a “Human” of planet “Earth.”” Twyla said. There was silence as Keith stared at Twyla for several moments.

“I was human,” Keith said. Mostly. Probably. It was all past tense now anyway.

“Really? Are the other Paladins human?” Twyla said.

“Three without a doubt, the fourth is debatable,” Keith said reaching for a leg of lizard. Twyla caught his wrist.

“You might want to wait for me to get the meat off the bones. While the meat of a Minku is safe to eat, the marrow is not,” Twyla said, “And we have very sharp fangs just perfect for puncturing bones, kid.” She let go of his wrist gently andpulled the spit off the fire.

“How did you meet a human? Was he captured?” Keith said. Twyla pulled out two metal camp plates from a bag next to her. She began to pull the meat off, distributing it evenly between the plates as she spoke,

“No. _I was_. I had crashed on your planet and your government had me locked up. He set me free and took me to safety in the middle of a desert and helped me understand your people a little better. He also helped me steal back my wrecked ship, and I scavenged components from various “junkyards” to cobble together new components when needed. I’m a much better engineer than I am a pilot and a better pilot than a trainee Druid. My mother is a Druid, and hoped this mane of mine meant I was destined to be just like her. I had too much of dear-old-Daddy in me and ended up being lousy at anything beyond simple illusions.” She slid him a plate of meat before she tossed the bones into the fire. “Which did come in handy when I was raiding those scrap piles for parts. Eat up, Minku tastes awful cold.”

——————————————— ——————————————

The pair all but inhaled the meat. To Keith, it kind of tasted like snake. He handed Twyla his plate and she tucked in her bag before she stood, wiping her greasy claws on her pant legs. Something he realized he’d just done too.

“I have to report back to my base soon but I have something for you before I go,” she said. She returned with a pair of hover crates and she opened the first to reveal at least three months worth of food rations and water he didn’t have to siphon from his Lion’s cooling tanks like had had been. The second had morewater, some clothing, bottles of dry fur cleanser that was clearly meant for Galra since the label was written in Galran with a picture of a Garla on it, and something that looked like cans of an arisole clothing cleaner, if the pictures were any indicator. A deep-space survival kit. He’d had enough.

“Why are you being so nice!” Keith said. Her ears laid back against her head as her eyes narrowed.

“Can’t being a resistance member be enough!” She asked, “I want Voltron to win! For that, the Paladins need to survive; what’s crazy with wanting that!”

“You’re acting like you’re-you’re my mom!” Keith said. Twyla froze, and some of the fur on her ears bushed up a bit. She stared at him again and sniffed at him before dragging him into a hug he couldn’t escape. He pushed against her, but she was far too strong.

“How could I have not seen it? _Smelt_ it?” she said. Keith stiffened whenever he let himself just smell her and his new senses told him that this was family. This was—but he had been human! She let go of him whenever she felt him tremble. She looked into his eyes and sighed at the betrayal and hurt she saw in them.

 

“I asked him not to tell you,” Twyla said, “He had his own secrets, as a half Iyurian, but when you came out with the Iyurian and Human traits dominant and mine recessive, we knew you would be safe on Earth.”

“My whole life, was a lie!” Keith yelled, “Appa told me you were dead! He never told me the truth about either of you! He said the dagger was from your father! It’s Iyruian metal! You’re Galra! Did you even care at all!”

“It _was_ from my father! Before the Iyurians were wiped out, they were the finest metal smiths in the known universe. Many Galra officers commissioned weaponry from them. My father might be one of the vilest beings in the universe, but when it comes to his offspring he actually gives half a quiznak about our happiness and our safety! That dagger was his first gift to me!” Twyla said, “It **ripped my heart out** to leave you behind but I left you that dagger because it was my only way of insuring you would have something of me to protect you!”

“I didn’t need it, I needed you!” Keith yelled, “I needed you after Appa died! I needed you after being passed around foster homes! I needed you when I thought my foster brother was dead! I needed _you_!”He stormed off leaving Twyla standing by the fire.

Though she wanted to cry, she couldn’t. She had already shed all her tears over stepping away from her family. Crying doesn’t undo years of regret.

————————————————————— ————————————————————

“Is there anything else I should know?” Keith asked once he returned. If Twyla noticed that his fur was wet from tears and his voice was raw from sobbing, she didn’t let on. She sighed.

“Since you asked. **_Yes._** My father isn’t just any Galra officer,” Twyla said, “He’s a bit worse than that.”

“How much worse can he be?”

“I was rude when I introduced myself earlier. My proper title is her Imperial Highness Princess Twyla. Ninth-Born Daughter of Zarkon,” Twyla said.

 

 _“You fight like a Galra_.”

 

“I’m related to that monster?” Keith said hollowly.

“You at least have one generation of separation, cub,” Twyla said, “Up to one quarter of you is his blood versus one half for me.”

“Wouldn’t that have changed when that Druid did this to me?” Keith said gesturing at himself.

“Possibly,” Twyla said, “Don’t give met that look; I was a **_failed_** Druid, remember?” Twyla said, “But you are not your DNA. If I believed that, I would be a happy part of the war machine our race has become. You don’t have to forgive me for leaving you. I know I never will forgive myself.” Twyla turned to leave.

“Wait.” She stopped. Keith tried to say something but nothing came out until he coughed,

“What did you want to name me?” he asked.

“Pardon?” She turned back to him.

“Appa would tell me stories that you didn’t like the name “Keith.” What did you want to name me?” Keith said.

“I wanted to name you for my Grandfather: Kioreth. It’s an older style name among Galra, but he was the one to open my eyes to the reality of the Galra. He was part of the Resistance, and he was executed for doing what he believed in,” Twyla said. Keith didn’t say anything but Twyla placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I have faith in you. Help your friends end this,” she said before she dropped her hand to her side and stepped back, “Good luck, Keith. I hope we meet again.” Keith held an arm out and Twyla grasped it at the forearm, which he copied. There was a weak smile on her face. Keith didn’t exactly copy it, but this was a start nonetheless.

“I’d better go, I was due back an hour ago and being a princess doesn’t mean glit to my base commander.”

—————————— ——————

Keith still didn’t know what to feel about any of it, but as he watched her ship vanish, but he knew that he didn’t hate her. He took the crates and dumped them out checking for any sort of tracking devices but found none. He threw everything back in because, he wasn’t going to pass up the contents he desperately needed. Red sent him comforting nudges and he nodded before he loaded the crates into Red and took off.

It occurred to him as he flew Red through space, he had no idea how he was going to explain _any_ of this to the others.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this isn't a let down as a third installment for "Lab Rat."  
> Keith will reunite with the others soon.
> 
> I also hope you liked Captain Twyla. I made her an engineer because I like Hunk (he's my second favorite character) and this makes it so Voltron won't have to face her in battle.
> 
> As for the "Ninth Born Daughter" thing, it's been 10,000 years. Zarkon's had a lot of time to space out his children, no pun intended. 
> 
> I did name her after a character I saw on the "Vehicle Voltron" Wiki. I think that character had been a lieutenant. 
> 
> Final note: In this universe of mine, there are four different varieties of Galra, before mixing said varieties together. Half of those are fur covered and half are not.
> 
> No fur:  
> Zarkon = Desert  
> Haggar = Coastal
> 
> Fur:  
> Jiore and Sendak = Night  
> Thace, Twyla, and Keith = Jungle
> 
> Much of Doom is a Desert, so there are more reptilian Desert Galra than any other variety but Fur usually proves dominant in any cross breedings.  
> The second largest region are the Jungles, followed by Coastal with Night being the smallest region.
> 
> The Night Galra hail from the darkest part of Doom because there had been a volcanic eruption a long time ago and the Druids of the time confined the ash to one area to prevent the rest of Doom from being affected. What resulted was a sector of the planet that seemed to be in perpetual Night.
> 
> I came up with these to make sense of the different looking Galra we've seen thus far in Voltron: Legendary Defender.


End file.
